Erawan!!

At around 10:30 am on Friday morning we start our journey. Traveling to somewhere never seems all that bad even though it takes ages to go anywhere. Going home is when the journey takes a toll. We arrive at the bus station and eventually hop on a bus that is supposed to be "a little over an hour", but ended up taking closer to over two hours. I actually didn't mind it much though. The bus was super bouncy and I forgot my head phones, but the ride provided some lovely views of rice fields and bright green trees that I don't ever get to see living in a suburb.
We arrive in Suphanburi, my friend Hannah and Franki's town. We walk around a bit and grab some lunch at a local little "hole in the wall". This place was less of a hole in the wall once you went inside, but from the outside I was surprised anyone would be able to tell there was a restaurant there. What I found super interesting was that the tables were inside the restaurant, but the guy cooked the food outside in front of the restaurant (not in the back like in America). It was kind of neat. I'm assuming it allowed the heat and fumes to clear out easier. We had some delicious yellow curry with chicken drumsticks soaked in it. When I first came to Thailand it really freaked me out how they often cook chicken and meat in the soup so the meat has the bones still in it and has been soaking in the broth for ages. Its pretty tasty now though, once you get past the fact that sorry but your fingers are going to get dirty and you might not be able to find napkins.

Jack and Hannah waiting for food

They love their elephant shaped bushes here... like A LOT

We spent the rest of friday afternoon chatting and rotating taking showers and playing this wonderfully fun card game involving calling people profanities (okay only one profanity and not the one you're thinking of... it wasn't bullshit). Once we realize it is dinner time we decide to go to a new sushi place. The place was so cute. All the seating was outside and the deck, tables and stools were all made of unfinished pine. Although I will say I think I did a better job with woodwork in my wood shop class junior year of high school than whoever made those tables and stools. The food was delicious though and I ordered far too much that I pawned off on others.
7 am wake up call! Time to trek to the Erawan National Park for the waterfalls! We arrive at the bus station at around 8:30 and leave at around 9. The bus was bouncy once again and took longer than we had thought, but provided some lovely views once again. An old thai woman fell asleep on my shoulder, but that happens fairly often here so it was casual. We arrive in Kanchanaburi and immediately hop on a song teow (pick up truck with benches in the bed) and arrive at the national park at 12:30.

Everyone smile!... or do something sort of awkward.

The brightest of the bright greens

I was not expecting both locals and tourists alike to be EVERYWHERE! Once I got over the initial disappointment that half clothed people would be in all of my photos of the falls, I realized just how beautiful the place was. There were clusters of bamboo that I found so cool. The branches of the other trees bent down low and curved back up to form handles. I felt like Jane from Tarzan. It was amazing how the rocks looked as if they were covered in algae, but it was actually just the change in color and texture of the rock from the erosion of a constant flow of water. The water was a cloudy turquoise which was beautiful. There were huge fish in every pool too and they bit us! I screamed unnecessarily, but it didn't hurt. They were the kind of fish that feed off of dead skin. Not my favorite thing though.

Every other tourist in Thailand had the same idea as us.

I thought it was cool that no matter where you go, people have to carve their names in trees

It was especially beautiful when the sun would shine through the trees

There were 7 different tiers. It was all one waterfall, but each of the seven provided an especially beautiful view of the waterfall. My favorite part was the portion that had these huge rocks that served as the most thrilling natural water slides.

At some points, like this one, we had to walk through small pools of water

This provided some nice up close and personal moments with mini waterfalls

Maggie, Me, Franki and Hannah

The slides!!

We loved them!

The upper most waterfall

Proved to be difficult to get a good photo of, but it was quite tall

There were also people in the waterfall at every moment

Overall it was a lovely trip. Sometimes we have to play the spectacle being the only white people in the area, in this case the only white people in a bus packed to the brim. This particular instance was especially uncomfortable with lengthy conversations in thai about us, extensive pointing and staring. In the beginning we just tried to smile, but after 10 minutes of no smiles back it was awkward. Other than the awkwardness and the huge bug spray spill that resulted in my purse forever repelling both bugs and people forever (that I cried about a bit, but without physically crying because crying is for babies), I had a great time!

Some random dog that decided to go hiking too

My favorite photo of the falls